By. James ClingmanNNPA Columnist
BlackonomicsJune 19, 1865 is commemorated by Africans in America as the day the last slaves were freed. For many Black folks Juneteenth, as it is now called, is our Independence Day, that final nail in the coffin of the worst treatment ever put on a people. Juneteenth was the culmination of the prayers, hopes, and dreams of our enslaved relatives, the notice that finally they had their freedom, despite recalcitrant cotton plantation owners who were not about to allow our ancestors go in peace. Freedom was in the air on that day in June 1865, and millions of Black people still celebrate that freedom today.This year I am speaking in Columbus, Ohio at their Juneteenth celebration, and I am pleased and honored to do so. It is my hope that the brothers and sisters will come out and participate in this event in even higher numbers than they would if it were a concert or a football game. Yes, there is an admission, but there are also admission fees for amusement parks, theaters, music festivals, sporting events, et al. At those events you get entertained; at the Juneteenth event in Columbus, you will get educated, informed, inspired, and I hope infected with a consciousness that will cause you to always support your brothers and sisters in efforts such as this one.Juneteenth is about freedom. I ask again: “Are we really free?” Many of those ancestors in Texas, upon hearing the good news, left with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They left to “seek for themselves,” as Richard Allen stated 100 years earlier. They took the risk of being killed or even enslaved again, despite so-called emancipation. They were willing to go out into a land about which they had no knowledge and get something for themselves. They were not about to continue to “work for their former masters for wages;” they knew full well what that would mean. The trick of emancipation has pervasively perpetuated itself in this country, especially in our children’s textbooks, thus, it is incumbent upon us to learn as much as we can about what really happened and what the Proclamation was all about. It is also important for us to know the words of General Orders Number 3, read by Major General Gordon Granger on that day in June 1865. Many of us celebrate Juneteenth but have no idea of the details of the celebration. (I first learned about it in1985.) We should know and teach our children that the Emancipation Proclamation did not free the slaves; approximately 800,000 slaves were not covered by the proclamation, and the rest were in states that had seceded from the Union, so those states simply ignored Abe Lincoln’s order. The power of words is important, however, and even though the 13th Amendment was not ratified until December 1865, the brothers and sisters in Galveston heard loud and clear the words, “all slaves are free,” and they took it from there.One hundred and forty years later, we should ask ourselves, “What are we celebrating? Our ancestors celebrated physical freedom. Shouldn’t our celebration be about psychological freedom by now? Our brothers and sisters celebrated the right to leave and explore new lands and new opportunities. Is it not our obligation to celebrate ownership of income-producing assets and having realized the opportunities our parents and grandparents passed on to us? They celebrated life in its simplest form when their chains were broken. With all of our excess, are we celebrating their lives, their sacrifices, their pain and suffering on our behalf?My call to you this year is as it has been for many years now. Celebrate the freedom of our ancestors with the understanding that they wanted us to be free as well. Have we done our jobs the way they did theirs? Are we free if we continue to allow crooked, greedy politicians to use us as political pawns? Are we free if we continue to settle for the economic crumbs from the master’s table in the form of parties, football games, concerts, and dysfunctional programs that only demonstrate and perpetuate our dysfunction? Are we free if continue to allow our brothers and sisters to be beat down, shot down, and abused by racist police officers? Are we free if we continue to allow our children to be shot down by their peers, as we impotently look on and do nothing but complain about it? Are we free if we allow drugs and guns free access into our neighborhoods? Are we free if we allow our children to be mis-educated by teachers who only teach our children to grow up and work for their children? Are we free when we settle for minority programs, pass-through contracts, and 20 percent allocations for subcontracts, rather than development and control? Are we free if we allow our most heralded leaders, especially our supposed moral leaders, to traipse after immoral acts and attach themselves to immoral people? When you celebrate freedom this year, ask yourself, “Is it for real this time?” If it’s not, commit to doing something to get your freedom. Gordon Granger died in 1876; he will not be returning with new general orders for our freedom. We must write our own general orders, and start our march, albeit very late, toward true freedom.James E. Clingman, an adjunct professor at the University of Cincinnati’s African American Studies department, is former editor of the Cincinnati Herald Newspaper and founder of the Greater Cincinnati African American Chamber of Commerce. He hosts the radio program, ”Blackonomics,” and has written several books, including: Economic Empowerment or Economic Enslavement – We have a Choice; Blackonomics; and the recently published Black-o-Knowledge-Stuff . To book Clingman for a speech or purchase his s books, go to his Web site, www.blackonomics.com. He can be contacted by telephone at 513/ 489-4132.
